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I was just filling out a PaB cup full of white 4x6 plates for a Winter Village layout, and I found something interesting. By just using the 4x6 or 4x4 plates and bricks to support the elevations, you can create extremely dynamic and realistic landscaping that's actually cheaper than using standard 32x32 baseplates. Using the typical cost of 9 cents per 4x4 plate in regular green compared to the cost of $7.99 of the new 32x32 bright green baseplates, you can divide the $7.99 cost of a 32x32 baseplate with an area of 1024 studs by $0.9 to get 11 plates per dollar, each with an area of 16 studs. Multiply this by 8 to get a cost of $7.99 for a baseplate compared to 88 4x4 plates for $7.92, which has a combined area of 1,408 studs, for 8 cents cheaper not counting shipping. Even though it is a bit more fragile, it can also be easily reinforced with bricks and plates on the bottom, and with a elevation of 4 plates, you can easily place 1x2 technic bricks to modularize your layout. Would this be a more feasible way to do landscaping on our layouts compared to the baseplates we currently use? Theoretically it could eliminate the need for baseplates entirely, aside from using road plates to model roads and highways. Sorry if this is already established, I've seen it used in dioramas and models, but never in such a scale. Here's a few photos of a piece of modular landscape built with this method. The slope of the plates can also be leveled out at any height and secured with bricks, but you can also use the continuous slope to create forced perspective on smaller or shelf layouts. You can also stretch out the plates up to 3 studs per layer and plate allowing you to create steep slopes or flat planes. This is what the understructure looks like, using various assorted plates and bricks to support the inclined terrain. This example was built using 40 4x4 plates, and can be extended further and this method is sturdier than using baseplates which can rarely split, bend, or warp shape.
